The present invention relates to electronic devices and methods of operating the same, and, more particularly, to mobile device user input and methods thereof.
Mobile electronic devices, such as mobile terminals, increasingly provide a variety of communications, multimedia, and/or data processing capabilities. For example, mobile terminals, such as cellphones, personal digital assistants, and/or laptop computers, may provide storage and/or access to data in a wide variety of multimedia formats, including text, pictures, music, and/or video.
However, data and/or applications stored on a mobile device can be difficult to manage, for example, due to the relatively small size of the device and the limited input devices provided. For example, many mobile terminals, such as cellphones, may be equipped with digital camera functionality. Yet, when an image captured using the digital camera is displayed on the mobile terminal, it may be difficult to select and/or manipulate the displayed image using the keypad. As such, mobile devices may include alternative input devices, such as sensor devices responsive to touch, light and/or motion.
In particular, mobile devices may include motion sensors, such as tilt sensors and/or accelerometers. As such, applications may be included in mobile devices that take advantage of these capabilities for operation and/or for manipulation of data. For example, it is known to provide menu navigation and selection on a mobile device via tilting and/or shaking the housing of the device. Similarly, it is known to provide video games on a mobile device that utilize predefined motions of the device housing for manipulation of one or more on-screen characters or the like. More specifically, by tilting the device housing, a user can move an on-screen character in one of eight directions. In both cases, the motion sensor may assess the movement of the device housing and execute a desired action associated with the movement.